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For more than 30 years, John Kiesewetter has been the source for information about all things in local media — comings and goings, local people appearing on the big or small screen, special programs, and much more. Contact John at johnkiese@yahoo.com.

Rick Green Leaving Enquirer For New Jersey

Cincinnati Enquirer

After only 18 months, Cincinnati Enquirer President and Publisher Richard A. Green is heading to Gannett's newly acquired North Jersey Media Group, which includes The Record newspaper of Bergen County and many readers in the heavily populated region west of New York City.

Green, 51, a former Enquirer reporter and editor, returned to Cincinnati from the Des Moines Register in spring of 2015 to replace Publisher Margaret Buchanan, after she had overseen a staff downsizing at the end of 2014. In his first few months here, he replaced editor Carolyn Washburn with Pete Bhatia.

Green, in addition to being Enquirer Media publisher, also oversaw Gannett's 10 other Ohio media sites.

Gannett last month purchased The Record,which was founded in 1895 and owned by the Borg family for 86 years. The Borg's North Jersey Media Group has between 700 and 800 employees. Green will be vice president/news and editor of the North Jersey Media Group.

Many former Enquirer staffers thought that Green was here to stay when he came back last year. He reached out to many former coworkers  -- including me and others who left in the 2014 downsizing -- and hired several, including columnist Chris Graves, race relations reporter Mark Curnutte, associate editorial page editor Kevin Aldridge and business editor Mark Wert.  Many former and current staffers welcomed the return of "one of their own" to stabilize the newspaper, which had lost 49 editorial/newsroom employees in 2014. 

"This was an unanticipated opportunity to help lead a large, award-winning newsroom in the most competitive market in the country,” said Green in the Enquirer announcement today.

“It is hard to describe my love of my native Ohio, the Cincinnati region and especially Enquirer Media. It always will be home. However, I could not pass up the chance to return to a newsroom and contribute to the North Jersey Media Group’s integration into the USA TODAY Network and work with such high-caliber journalists and storytellers,” said Green, who sat a few desks away from me when he started at the Enquirer n 1987. He met his future wife, Laura, while covering Cincinnati City Hall for the paper.

Curiously, Gannett did not name a new Enquirer Media publisher Monday to replace Green.

North Jersey Media Group also includes the NorthJersey.com website;  the Patterson NJ Herald News; more than 50 community weekly newspapers; and a monthly magazine, the Enquirer said.

John Kiesewetter, who has covered television and media for more than 35 years, has been working for Cincinnati Public Radio and WVXU-FM since 2015.